Andrew Zusman is a user experience designer and blogger. He is a graduate of Netcraft Academy, an institute for user experience education, and a UX designer at Inkod-Hypera. He is an alumnus of Indiana University. Andrew is a native Hoosier, but currently resides in Tel-Aviv with his girlfriend and their dog, Indy.

Density is a principle of user experience that is both dynamic and critical. Designers often use terms like “busy” or “crowded” to describe websites that have simply too much information, too many pictures, an overload of icons, or all of the above. Density, however, might be a more thorough term because density can be quantified, but “crowded” cannot. Density could be quantified by determining how many elements or nodes are on a given page. It could also be determined by looking at the depth of the code. Indicators of density could include loading time. How “heavy” is the page? The point, however, is not that the more dense a page, the worse off the experience is for the user. It should be noted that density can have a wide range of impact on user experience. No elements of web design should be made without consideration. Density is simply another element…